still early in the morning
by callmesandy
Summary: "What if we were dating? Then Dawson would know you're a sexual attractive being and I would have you as, like, armor from the evil of my teacher," Pacey said. (set in s1) (Pacey/Joey, Pacey/Tamara offscreen and written as abusive.)


Notes: no profit garnered, not mine. For the trope bingo square fake relationship. Title and opening quote from C Dylan Bassett's No Audience. Thanks A for beta help!

* * *

 _Or, where we are now. Meaning their faces are covered in cloth. Meaning all fears_  
 _of thunder are not alike. Meaning we've killed each other in previous dreams._

 _(She speaks as if it's still early in the morning.)_

"Pacey," Joey said, trailing after him. He turned around to glare at her.

"Pacey, it would be nice if you could pause your super frenetic loser life for maybe thirty seconds and pay just a little attention to me if it's not too much to ask," she said.

"It is too much to ask," Pacey said. She looked perturbed and premenstrual, never a good combination. "God, Potter, go talk to Dawson."

"Nope," she said. "We kinda made up after last night's debacle of a pseudo date but I just want to listen to your undoubtedly worthless opinion."

"No, you don't," Pacey said.

"Not if I really think about it, but my own embarrassment over the horror of last night is blinding my mind to good sense," Joey said. "I just want a minute of you listening to me. In return I will listen to you."

Pacey couldn't imagine anything that would make that offer workable, but then he saw Miss Jacobs walking into her classroom.

"Okay," he said. "We have five minutes, and I go first."

Joey frowned, pouted and then nodded.

"Last night," Pacey said, "I was also humiliated and then I was yelling at Miss Jacobs about how she flirted with me and said something about the best sex she'd never have, by which I mean me -"

Joey burst out laughing. "You? Best sex she never had? Come on, Pacey."

"Shut up, Potter. She kissed me. And then she said sorry, it would never happen again. But she did kiss me," Pacey said. "She said I'm not a boy."

"She's wrong," Joey said. Her expression was studying for a final serious, which was a pretty serious Potter expression. "You're 15. You're not a little boy or anything, but you're still a teenager. Bessie warned me about men who say that to me, like, it's gross. She's at least 20 years older than you, Pacey."

"Please, she's not some lecherous man trying to get into your panties, she's a grown woman who wants me for some hot loving," Pacey said. He glanced over at the upperclassmen milling around them. None of them were taller than him, but the senior guys looked beefier.

"She's a lecherous woman who kisses teenagers 20 years younger than her," Joey said. "Be careful, Pacey."

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Okay, you listened. Your turn, Potter."

"Why was I so awful to Jen last night? I just, I'm around her and I turn into the bitchiest bitch in the world of bitchville."

"Because Dawson likes her and not you," Pacey said. "You don't care when he hangs out with me, so it's clearly not about having Dawson's full attention. It's about the kind of attention."

Joey sighed. "You're an idiot."

"Because I'm wrong?"

"Yes," Joey said. "You're totally wrong."

"Great, let's never do this again," Pacey said.

Three days later he sat down next to Potter in the library. "So, today she says the kiss never happened," Pacey said. "It never happened and I needed to run along and not trail behind her like some immature asshole or something. It did happen, Potter."

"I know it happened, it totally happened," Joey said. "But you're basically Ingrid Bergman."

"Excuse me? Could you try to make sense?"

"Classic movie; Gaslight. Husband tries to convince Ingrid Bergman she's nuts by telling her she remembers things wrong, he moves things when she's not looking and tells her they were never there. She's gaslighting you. No, it never happened, she didn't kiss you, totally didn't happen," Joey said.

Pacey said, "She's not trying to drive me crazy. She is, but not the way you're talking about. I'm not Ingrid Bergman. I'm Tom Cruise in Risky Business, thank you very much."

"You're a 15 year old with low self esteem that you cover by pretending to be an asshole and deep down you don't think you're worth anyone's time so all this jerking around by an attractive female who's older than you and therefore a validating figure is just the sort of abuse dressed up as seduction you'd respond to," Joey said, looking bored. Like she could barely be bothered with him.

"Fuck you," he said.

"Sorry," she said, grabbing his hand. "Sorry." She said, "I don't mean to be mean. We joke about this stuff, but yes, obviously you have super low self-esteem, join the club. We all do, besides Dawson, probably because until recently, Dawson was the only one of us whose parents modeled love and affection."

"You're so much fun, no wonder Dawson doesn't see you as a sexual being," Pacey said.

"I know," Joey said, sighing. "I know."

Pacey went to find her the morning after the dance. "Good morning, Joey."

"Please stop bothering me," Joey said. "That dance was the worst thing ever. Dawson literally said that Jen was perfect because she was just like me only Jen." She sat on her porch and rubbed her eyes. "And I was trying so hard to be understanding and not mean to Jen and she was nice to me and a little creepy but mostly nice, it's just. He never sees me, Pacey."

"He's stupid," Pacey said. "You know if someone asked you out, he'd see you as as hot as Jen all of a sudden."

"No one's interested in me," Joey said.

"Of course not, you go through life with a hostile and aggressive outlook that's clear to everyone who meets you," Pacey said. "It totally blinds anyone to the fact you're actually pretty. And smart."

"What a ringing endorsement," Joey said.

"She kissed me," Pacey said, elbowing her. "She blew me off at school and at the dance and then she was waiting in the same place we kissed and she wanted to apologize, blah blah it never should have happened. But then we kissed again. It was great. She wants me, and I wore her down."

"That sounds like a fantastic start to a relationship, I wore her down," Joey said. "She denies you two did anything, kisses you twice, do you think she'll be back to denial tomorrow? Pacey." She touched his hand. "Pacey, you're going to get hurt."

"I like her," Pacey said. "She likes me, why are you so offended by that?"

"Because she's abusing you, probably out of her own confusion and dysfunction and you're going to get in trouble," Joey said. "Bad trouble, that warps your brain."

"You don't think I have a brain," Pacey said.

"I think you have a brain," Joey said. She sighed. "You're actually pretty smart even if you refuse to apply yourself in school."

"You think I should stay away from Tamara," he said.

"Actually, yes," Joey said.

"She thinks so, too," Pacey said.

"But you can't resist her," Joey said.

"What if we were dating? Then Dawson would know you're a sexual attractive being and I would have you as, like, armor from the evil of my teacher," Pacey said. He grinned. "I think it would work."

"No, it wouldn't," Joey said. "This isn't a wacky sitcom or stupid romantic comedy and I'm not interested in dating you."

"Me neither," Pacey said. "Not interested in you, but we could solve each other's problem. Don't you want to save me?"

"So you can start kissing me on random docks? No way," Joey said. She was starting to sound less and less emphatic though.

"We don't have to kiss," Pacey said. "We can hold hands and hug once or twice. Just enough for Dawson to get jealous."

"No," Joey said. "Just say no, Pacey. To drugs and abusive perverted teachers."

"You have her all wrong," he said.

There was the day he tried to show Tamara how smart he was and she seemed to like him, then she taunted him with his obvious virginity and she told him to go date someone his own age. She kissed him again, she even rubbed against him, leaving him hard and aching. She left him again.

He was done taking his problems to Joey, though. He didn't have a problem. He had a woman who sent mixed signals, it kept him on his toes, it was feminine wiles.

He was eating breakfast when his mom started asking where he'd been the night before. "Tutoring," he said.

"You were being tutored? Who wanted to waste their time on you?" His mom frowned. "Pacey, you can't expect people to put themselves out for you with no return."

"It was my English teacher," Pacey said. Even the sugar cereal pops with extra sugar and milk tasted a little sour. "She said I did well."

His mother gave him the look that said she didn't believe him in the slightest. "I'm sure she did, Pacey."

"You made that poor woman stay late for you?" Dougie had to join in.

"Pacey, just do the damn work. You're capable of at least a D effort and that's all you need to pass," his dad said.

"Thanks, everybody," Pacey said.

"You know we love you and support you," his mom said. "We're being realistic and you should be, too."

"Then hugs all around, right?" To Pacey's non-surprise, no one hugged him on his way out the door.

He had the worst time paying attention in class. Even Tamara had thought he wouldn't get to the second chapter. That was the kind of support he got from everyone.

Potter found him, of course. She said, "Funny, you don't look happy."

"You look like an unpleasant person who will never have sex in her miserable life," he said.

"I'm nice to you sometimes," she said. "You really do look miserable, speaking of."

He faked a smile. "Bug off now, please."

"Ugh, something about your radiating misery is just making me feel for you and I hate that," Joey said. She hugged him and he was surprised how simply nice it felt.

He said, "Thank you. My plan to cop a feel is working perfectly."

"You say that, but you didn't reach for my butt," she said. "See you tomorrow at some point."

Except Saturday Dawson was helping with the filming of the stupid football film. He kept trying to get Tamara to acknowledge him, she'd kissed him a lot, a number of times at this point. He couldn't understand why she wouldn't just stop going back and forth.

Until finally she did.

After they had sex, he felt good, he definitely felt good. She got up suddenly, pulling her clothes around her, and said they had to go. She dropped him off outside his house and sped away like she was embarrassed. Like she was running from the scene of a crime which it actually was.

"I just had sex," he said quietly.

No one would believe him. So he jumped on his bike and went to Potter's. It was late-ish, and he saw the light on in her room. He knocked on her window. She glared at him as she opened the window. "Don't think you're coming in, you late night pervert."

"I don't wanna come in. I just wanted to share since you think I'm such in a bad relationship that you were wrong and we had sex."

"You had sex with Miss Jacobs?" She looked sick.

"Don't look so disgusted," he said.

"She's using you," Joey said. "I lied to this boy today, I pretended to be something I am absolutely not at all, and you know what? At the end of the day, I just felt stupid and worth about as much as a teeny grain of sand. I used him as part of my fantasy game but he didn't know it was all a big manipulative game that I played on him."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Let me guess, you said you wanted to have sex, first she didn't want to and then she did," Joey said.

"She wanted to, Jo," Pacey said.

"I'm sure," Joey said. She leaned out of the window and patted his hair. He pretended he didn't like it since it was apparently gameplay day.

"I just came here because I can't tell anyone else, so I thought I'd come here," Pacey said. "Bad idea jeans."

"You're wearing them," Joey said. "Catch you later."

He felt stupid for thinking Joey would care or not tell him he was a loser.

The next day Dawson started talking about the tape of Miss Jacobs having sex and all he felt was panic. After Jen and Dawson left, Joey handed him the tape. "I took it without Dawson knowing," she said. "Since I knew it was you, I didn't want to make you confess to even more people."

"Thank you," he said, glaring at her. He looked at the table and tugged at his shorts. He said, "Did she look, I mean, she was enjoying it, right?"

"Yes," Joey said. "Let me guess, she didn't tell you that."

"Yes, she did," he lied.

He stood up and biked off as she yelled, "You're welcome" at him.

He did it with Tamara two more times, she took him to her house and they hung out. Like boyfriend and girlfriend as long as they were inside and no one could see. She said, again, "You're not a boy," but her voice sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

She had a glass of wine and then she said, "We'll never last. You should see someone your own age, Pacey."

His jaw hurt from his teeth grinding against each other. She said things like that, and he was nervous and worried and he'd do anything for her. He was actually dating someone and having sex and half the time he felt like he was going to forced into a burning pit of red hot spikes, like every time she said she would leave him or he should leave her or she was doing something bad. Maybe she liked being bad.

He said, "You're right, you win." He put on his clothes and shoes and biked home.

The next morning he was at Potter's house to go with her to school. "Seriously, Joey, fake date me."

"I thought you were happy and having sex," she said, not meanly.

"Sometimes I think you're right, she makes me feel - look, I'm tired of it," he said. "So save me, be my fake girl."

"What's in this for me?"

"Dawson gets jealous, realizes you're a womanly teenage girl," he said. "He sees your dubious charms and when he and New York girl inevitably implode because she is way too hot for Dawson, you're there."

"Dating you," she said, smiling.

"Very amicable break up," he said.

She looked at him and made him feel uncomfortable but finally she said, "Okay. When did this relationship start?"

"Right now. We've been talking, I decided to walk you to school, one look leads to one thing and the next thing you know, we're holding hands in the hall," Pacey said.

"That's moving pretty quick," Joey said. "We can go on a fake date tonight and then we can hold hands in the hall. Tomorrow. Today we're giggly and blushing."

"And when Dawson says you wouldn't even kiss me when we were filming?"

She frowned. "Fine," she said. She got in front of him and got on her tiptoes and then she was kissing him. He grabbed her face and opened his mouth. She still kissed back and then she abruptly stepped back. "First kiss out of the way."

"Where are we going on our date?"

"Movies," she said.

Dawson was predictably dumbfounded and even hostile. Joey got hostile right back at him which Pacey thought was a weird move to stake her claim for the post-Jen timeframe. On the other hand, Joey wasn't really great at this romance thing.

Joey walked him to his class with Miss Jacobs, saying goodbye to him in the doorway with a surprisingly genuine smile and "see you tonight, Pacey."

He was ambivalent about the possible hurt feelings he saw in Miss Jacobs's face. He wasn't happy, he wasn't glorying in it, he just felt something. It wasn't quite the red hot spikes in his gut but it was lukewarm prickles.

Pacey girded his loins to no longer use his loins and met Joey at the movies. He said, "Can I fake pay or we go dutch?"

"You're paying," she said. "And I'm getting popcorn."

They sat near the front and Joey put the popcorn on her lap. She looked around and Pacey kept his eyes straightforward on the screen. He didn't care who was there. He didn't. Joey leaned over and whispered, "Dawson and Jen are here. No sign of Miss Jacobs."

"Thanks for the update," Pacey muttered. He ate a handful of popcorn and counted the seconds until the movie started. It actually wasn't a bad movie. Joey was quiet and a not so irritating presence. He assumed Jen and Dawson were sitting behind them with a good enough view so at mid point in the movie he took Joey's hand. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

They were walking out, holding hands of course, when Pacey spotted Dawson and Jen. Dawson was looking over at them, Jen was looking perturbed at Dawson's distraction. Pacey said, "Hey, time for some hot loving to make you look good."

She grinned and kissed him. It was a marginally passionate kiss but he could get into it for Joey's sake. He held her petite tomboy body close to him and grabbed her ass with his other hand. "Hey," she said.

"Dawson would be suspicious if I didn't," Pacey said. "He knows my character, Jo."

"Oh, damn it, that's completely true," she said. She started kissing him again then whispered in his ear, "I see Miss Jacobs and one of the other teachers."

"Mr. Gold? He's gay," Pacey said.

Joey leaned back but not out of Pacey's arms. "Real gay or you think gay like Doug?"

"They're both real, but Tamara told me," Pacey said, keeping his voice quiet. "Dawson just stomped off and Jen followed kind of rolling her eyes at him."

"Miss Jacobs made a face," Joey said.

"A face? What does that even mean? Be specific," Pacey said.

"Nope," Joey said. She moved out of his arms but grabbed his hand. "You're getting over her. You're not being jerked around and hurt and gaslighted by her. That's why you're pretending to like kissing me."

"I do like kissing you," Pacey said. "What is that lip gloss? Something berry like?"

"It's strawberry, actually," she said, taking the tube out of her pocket and reapplying. "It looks good on you."

The downside of just fake dating Joey was he still had to hang out with her while she studied, and she made him study, too. "I'm bored," he said.

"It's been 45 minutes," Joey said. "You're behind in every class, how are you bored?"

"I want to be doing something else," Pacey said. "I want to be doing anything else."

"Fine," Joey said. She pulled out a cooking timer. They were at the Icehouse, Joey working her waitressing gig in between going over her books at the counter. Pacey was sitting at the selfsame counter, with his many books beside him. "Five minutes," Joey said. She set the timer. "Go crazy."

"You told me to," Pacey said. He jumped off the stool and imitated Doug's idea of dancing. He did a few Rockette kicks just to make her laugh.

Joey was laughing her ass off which actually made her look pretty and then she said, "Come on, we have customers."

He leaned against the counter. "You have two customers, they're regulars. They're also over 60 and only paying attention to their stupid chess game."

"Fine," she said, still laughing a little. He did some jazz hands to make her laugh again.

The alarm went off and he sat back down and opened his book. He stared very seriously at Joey as she went back to her books. Surprisingly, he could concentrate on his books this time. When he asked for another break he was surprised to see an hour had passed. This time Joey was beneficent and gave him ten minutes. They played one of those slap games where one person tried to pull their hand out before the other person smacked them.

He had an okay few days. He got to do well in class for once, which he discovered he sort of liked. Dougie got mad at him for something, probably likely because Pacey had borrowed one of the police cars again, so he was nursing a larger than average bruise on his left side, under his ribs. The good part of that was that he was no longer having sex so no one saw him naked or half naked.

Then Miss Jacobs held him for a moment after class. He walked in a fog to the library, deciding it made more sense to skip lunch than try to be a good fake boyfriend. Joey was a better fake relationship having person, though, she found him. She sat down next to him and passed him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Don't eat it here, though, the books deserve better," she said. "Let me guess, Miss Jacobs finally gave you her what have you about your breakup. She said everything that happened was your fault and you pursued her and you broke her heart by being cruel and you were acting your age and she should have known."

"That is alarmingly true and somehow pretty accurate," he said.

She took his hand. She said, "Miss Jacobs is an abusive bitch. She decided every single step you two took in that so-called relationship, she was the one who said yes to all of it. And of course you acted your age, she was deluding herself that you weren't 15 years old. Which is not bad, Pacey. You are 15 years old. She's the one who wants to pretend you aren't and then be mad at you that you are. She sucks."

"I miss that, too," Pacey said, faking a smile.

"Stop being a pervert," Joey said.

"Just stating the truth, she does suck," Pacey said.

"I don't want to know," she said. "Just tell me you didn't cheat on me and kiss the hussy."

"I didn't," he said.

She kissed his cheek. He wondered if any of the books he could see on the nearby shelf were even remotely interesting. She said, "You don't deserve to be treated like that. Even you, Pacey."

"Even me," Pacey said.

The next morning, he had another near silent breakfast with his loving family, only slightly disrupted by the part where his mom started talking about how Gretchen was such a good daughter and made sure to call once a week and was getting good grades until Pacey's dad rolled his eyes and told her to be quiet. They briefly shouted at each other before Pacey's dad stomped off.

Pacey's side still ached a little. He kept his head down. They ended up studying at Joey's house that night, in her bedroom even. During their first break, he said, "How is Dawson taking you spending so much time with me?"

"He complained about it, in between complaining to me about his mom's affair and Jen's non-virginity. But I had a nice conversation with Jen if that count for anything. Mostly, he actually seems okay with it, like he's over us being friends," she said, pushing her lower lip out.

"He never said that at all. He thinks you're moving ahead of him, I think," Pacey said. "You've got a boyfriend, he thinks, and it's just reinforcing for him that you're a girl and not his perfect sexless best friend. Plus he's creating all this sturm and drang and angst with him and Jen and his parents and we have an easygoing angst-less relationship because it's utterly fake. Also, when he talks to me, he keeps trying to find out if I've gotten in your pants or bra and how eager you are to kiss me and take off your shirt and pants which does not spell disinterest, but instead is j-e-a-l-o-u-s-y."

"Pacey can spell," she said, smiling. She nudged his side apparently attempting to be playful.

He winced and she frowned. Her womanly jaw stuck out at an unattractive angle. She said, "Who hit you?"

"Come on, Jo, this is not an after school special where we all learn an important lesson and you're played by a 25 year old who hasn't been in high school for a decade," he said.

She hugged him, delicately. It was really horrifying how much he enjoyed human contact, any human contact, specifically hers. She didn't say anything which was nice for once. Then she stretched out on the bed. "I'm reading my book," she said.

"Me, too," he said. "This fascinating textbook about biology. Just fascinating."

He woke up with a start to Bessie yelling at him. "Get out, get out, get out."

"Sorry, sorry," Pacey said, stumbling out of bed. Somehow he'd fallen asleep and now Bessie was going to kill him with a frying pan. He held his hands up and tried to find his shoes.

"Bessie, calm down," Joey said, sitting up. "He was on top of the covers, I was underneath, he's fully dressed, I'm in my pajamas which you saw me change into, oh my God, put down the frying pan."

Thankfully, Bodie came in and took the frying pan. "Let the poor boy leave, sweetheart."

Joey, of course, insisted on still yelling. "You never minded when I spent the night with Dawson."

"He is not your boyfriend," Bessie said. "Get out, Pacey."

"Getting out," he said, putting his shoes on. "Heading out."

Joey was clearly in a feisty just woke up mood, because she got out of bed and kissed him completely passionately with tongue and everything. She even grabbed his butt.

"Time to go," Bodie said.

He went home on his bike, feeling weird and unsettled. Naturally, no one at his house was worried about where he was.

He and Joey fake dated for another week. Bessie had her baby. Pacey managed to evade any kind of notice, positive or negative, from his family.

"I think," Pacey said, "next time Dawson interrogates me about this relationship, I am going to say I touched your boob."

"No, you will not," Joey said. She stuck out her tongue at him. They were studying, again, which was a clear illustration why Dawson never saw Joey's secondary characteristics because even fake dating, they studied all the time.

"We've been dating for a month," Pacey said. "Of course I would try to touch your boobs."

"And I would just let you?" Her frown made her look like a cartoon character, less like a real person.

"We're dating, you'd want me to," Pacey said. "Remember? You're not repulsed by my very existence, you like me. You make out with me all the time, as opposed to what we actually do is which study and absolutely nothing that could be fun."

"But you wouldn't tell Dawson that, you would be respectful," Joey said.

"No, I wouldn't," Pacey said.

"I want you to be respectful, please. Don't talk about our completely imaginary sex life with Dawson," she said.

"I just want him to know you're not a prude, he's already touched Jen's boobs," Pacey said.

That remark earned him the much expected rarely duplicated Potter death stare. "Be better than him," she said.

Ten minutes later, she said, "He told you that about Jen?"

"Yes," he said. He glanced over at her. "Sorry I told you, I didn't mean to."

Twenty minutes later, she closed her books and sat down on his lap. He said, "So now you've gone insane."

"If you're going to tell Dawson, you may as well do it," she said, sighing.

"That's absolutely no reason for us to do this. You wanna make out with me? Actually want to make out with me," he said, lifting her up and putting her back in her seat. "I won't tell Dawson anything about our imaginary furtive touching and the like."

The next morning at school, Joey slouched over to him, pouting and put out. She said, "I'm sorry I was a loser to you last night."

"Yeah, you were," he said. "But I forgive you because I'm beneficent. Gimme a kiss."

She surprised him by kissing him, her arms around him tight.

"Do you have to do that everywhere?" Dawson's voice was extremely whiny at that moment.

"Yes," Joey said. "In fact, we do." She smirked and drifted off.

Then he had the worst English class of his life. Even more than the one time Miss Jacobs told him it was all his fault for breaking her heart. He walked out feeling like he was sinking into a dark ocean trench, the kind that monsters come out of and eat entire cities.

He thought about skipping the rest of his classes but he'd actually done his homework.

Naturally, Potter didn't give a crap about his misery and walked up to him, taking his hand and immediately complaining about Dawson. For about thirty seconds. Then she actually got a clue. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," he said.

"I totally believe you," she said, rolling her eyes. "Pacey, you can tell me. I won't make fun of you or anything."

"I don't believe you," he said. "Are you going to nag at me until I say something?"

"Yes, I am," she said. "So let's skip it."

"I think." He sighed. "I feel like maybe Miss Jacobs might be dating someone else in my class. Like, another guy."

"That sucks," she said. "Also, I told you so."

"Which you just had to get in, didn't you?" He was going to break up with her, yell at her right there in the parking lot which was as far as they'd gotten from the school.

"Sorry," she said. "Sorry, sorry." She hugged him like a stealth hugger out of nowhere. He really hated how much she hugged him, it was a horrible imposition on his person. "She totally meant the things she said to you about you being special, Pacey," Jo said.

"You said she was manipulating me," Pacey said.

"She was, just like she is with that guy. But she was unintentionally right, you are special and you are a good guy," Joey said.

"I wasn't special," Pacey said.

"You're wrong," Joey said. "I know this goes against every single message you ever get from anyone besides maybe me and Dawson, but you are a good guy and a worthwhile person."

He couldn't think of anything biting or witty to say. He just let her hug him because she wanted to feel better about herself, he was used to faking things.

Saturday he was laying on his bed when Joey just walked into his room. "No warning before the impending hurricane, Potter?"

"It's your house, Witter. I walked right in and no one said anything. Seriously, I walked right past your mother and she didn't even look up," Joey said. She sat down on the bed next to him. "I'm bored, you're my boyfriend, entertain me."

He pulled her on top of him. "I'm your fake boyfriend."

He expected her to get off him but instead she just shifted so she was more comfortable. Parts of him were getting damn comfortable. She said, "Sometimes we don't feel very fake."

"You don't want to date me," Pacey said. He ran his hands up her thighs to get a good grip on her pert butt.

"You don't want to date me," Joey said. "Right?"

She hummed and then she kissed him. Again with tongue. She pushed her butt into his hands and he was definitely getting hard now.

Pacey rolled to his side so she was laying next to him, not on top of him. "What are we doing?"

Joey said, "Did you hear Dawson and Jen broke up last night?"

"I didn't," he said. "So your response is, was?"

"You know, I was listening to Dawson talk and I was thinking, I was thinking I'm so glad my relationship isn't all drama," Joey said.

"Because it's fake," Pacey said. "Don't you think we'd have drama if we were dating?"

"Would we? I mean what would be different specifically?"

"We'd be making out more which could lead to drama," Pacey said.

Joey pressed her lips together and looked at him with her expression open and caring and wanting and he had no idea how to react to that. She said, "We could try. I wanna date for real."

"This was just supposed to be a game," Pacey said. He sounded extremely tentative to his own ears.

"If you're thinking with that addled brain of yours that maybe you're not good enough for me -"

"No," he said. "Come on, I'm great. Right? I seem to recall you saying that a lot to make me feel better."

She rolled her eyes. "Kiss me, loser. I'll let you touch my boobs and everything."

"Well, when you put it that way," he said.


End file.
